1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to techniques for efficiently sharing necessary hardware when both contactless integrated circuit (IC) card technology and wireless charging technology are included in an electronic device.
2. Description of the Related Art
Electronic devices represented by recent cellular phone terminals have a contactless IC card function such as a function called the “NFC/FeliCa” function, and these electronic devices have become more and more popular in various applications such as commuter passes, electronic tickets, and electronic money. “NFC” stands for Near Field Communication and is a short-distance wireless communication standard for performing bidirectional data communication at a very short distance of about 10 cm by using radio waves at 13.56 MHz. “FeliCa”, which is a registered trademark of Sony Corporation, is the name of contactless IC card technology developed by Sony Corporation and is employed in NFC.
At the same time, wireless charging technology for charging cellular phone terminals without using cables has recently been proposed. Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2007-249305 discloses techniques for contactlessly charging an electronic device from a charging apparatus by using electromagnetic coupling.